A card show and tell conundrum

It is harder for me to do any in-depth recaps because purchases have added up and I can't conjure up these nice and neat stories about how certain cards were chosen over others - maybe what I really want to say is look at my hauls, pore over my finds, but maybe I'm just reading the room wrong or there is no real audience to cater to.

I'm a glutton for punishment however, where I need an outlet where there is a routine to get the word out once in a while - so here goes another bunch of purchases [at what has been the monthly show, though there might be 1 or 2 more dates added in a given month] to literally amuse myself with.

I found what maybe a complete 'stand alone' set of Bryce Harper minor league cards - I assume these are official issues, though a case where the cards were printed to capitalize on his hype as a prospect.

They seem more like customs than anything else - however, enough time has passed where the cards are 'old enough' to have some pre-rookie novelty.

In the pecking order of sporting GOATS over the past 20 years, Jeter might be the token baseball guy - still have to put aside some Jeters, where maybe I'm looking for some mainstream, if dated oddballs [Upper Deck Collectors Club, Upper Deck FanFest, Upper Deck National] just to have something different.

This Willie Mays caught my eye because it just stood out as a little larger, even though I like my cards standard size - it looks like it's a Topps branded card rather than some custom, so my best guess it was from a National VIP package, since I've seen them put out similar, vintage themed card sets as part of their National Convention promotions.

Miscellaneous baseball isn't where it's at at a 'here and now' card show, but I'm digging away to see what odds and ends I can pull - including an old Joe Mauer minor league card from his pro debut season, a 2018 Topps Archives Aaron Judge card I thought was some parallel [it's just a base] because of the cardboard stain design element [on the back] and a real old 1963 Fleer card of Bob Aspromonte.

I remember when I thought Xavier Nady was going to be the next hot prospect just over 20 years ago - I wanted his rookie cards so bad when they first came out and while it wasn't the one I had in mind, grabbed one of the serial #'d rookies that came out his pro debut season where he might have been guaranteed to get a big league call up in 2000.

While Nady was a very good player in spurts - he never did turn into that perennial all-star talent I assumed most guys with a little bit of prospect pedigree turned out to be back in the day.

I grabbed basic rookie cards of Ke'Bryan Hayes and Jo Adell just because maybe there is a desperation to think about future considerations - even if talking about putting away lowest end rookies of a couple of potential future stars.

I didn't think I'd end up with a pair of serial #'d Ryan Freel rookie cards but maybe there is some sentimentality there - where the cards go towards my beyond the glory collection.

It's only a checklist card, but the old school Catfish Hunter / Nolan Ryan card maybe a nice add to Ryan collection in my Angels binder - I may keep an eye out for old-school / vintage stragglers when available where there is a little novelty in something now over 45 years old.

More baseball odds and ends, including an Albert Belle inside printed on simulated wood material and a Chipper Jones insert printed on simulated base material- it has been said somewhere else but those types of cards are always fun to pick up.

I ended up with a couple of Reggie Jackson cards that may fall into the oddball territory - I've seen the card where he is promoting soccer on other blogs, so I had to make it a keeper [the only thing weirder than seeing Reggie promoting the World Cup back in 1993 is realizing that he is a special assistant to the owner of the Houston Astros] along with his 1982 O-Pee-Chee In Action subset card.

I don't know if Giancarlo Stanton is relevant as far as who I may collect but seeing a couple of cards from his minor league days [included a mini] - triggered me to pick them up where enough time has passed to make them a little 'old school' novelties rather than just finding another big league issued card of the 12-year veteran.

I don't think Nick Castellanos is any sort of baseball card superstar, but he has put up some numbers where is considered an actual baseball star - I make make his 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League blue tint card a keeper, even if it's worth only what I paid.

I didn't anticipate finding these prospect cards and while they are strictly base [and not even first year cards], maybe I haven't had much exposure to prospect products in recent years - so if I see cards of notable guys, maybe I should squirrel them away as far as guys who are likely going to be decade stars through the 2020s.

These are kind of my 'junk' GU / auto finds - I didn't really want to spend a dollar on a J.C. Romero card, but want to pick up certified autographs of one-time Angels outright and add them [to the non-Angels card portion] of my Angels all-time autograph collection without worrying about digging up an TTM/IP of the same player that I may or may not actually have.

Cesar Hernandez is nothing special at all, but he is an active big leaguer who I didn't have an autograph of - I think he is wearing a retro uniform, so maybe I can add his Topps Stadium Club autograph to that mini-collection.

The Fred McGriff bat card may have come out during a time where maybe memorabilia cards were still a novelty - maybe not the late 1990s, but in the early 2000s where game used cards were featured highlights in baseball card products rather just another insert type that would lose its collectibility.

I don't think I'll ever be collecting other sports but I'll add a few stragglers to the mix - where it's cards of some other sport GOATS [Michael Jordan, Tom Brady], an interesting, fun card [Jake The Snake Plummer posing with an actual snake] or a card featuring an individual [Colin Kaepernick] that has transcended past just being another pro athlete.